A vertical slice that showed around 15 minutes of gameplay was created to show to publisher Activision, which moved away from Call of Duty's traditional cinematic approach.

"[The vertical slice] didn't have a whole lot of [cinematic moments]," said designer James Schomer. "But I think a lot of that was planned. We were aware of the cinematic nature that Call of Duty was trending towards. But it was not part of the original demo. It was a 'this is what we're shooting for' sort of thing."

Despite it being favoured by Activision bosses, Modern Warfare's strong sales and Vivendi / Blizzard saw the project scrapped.